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Although I have been told lately that I am not young any more, I hung onto the fact that World Youth Day is for people from 18-35 years old. So, it didn't matter what people said...... because according to the Pope, 35 is still young.

But now it's official. I am no longer numbered among the 'youth'. Does that mean that I am all grown up now!!!?

My birthday was on July 26th of July. Thank you for all the kind messages, cards, etc. Thank you to the Central Catholic Bookshop in Melbourne for having a cake in my absence!!!!

Kev kindly organised a special lunch for me, and invited our friends who remained in Rome for the Summer. He decorated the dining room of the ESM beautifully and had all my favourite summer food.


Party - complete with loud, annoying whistles!!

Mark Anderson and the kids made a great cake. I am so impressed because they made it from scratch, which isn't easy here as the ingredients are hard to find. They couldn't find any smarties to put on it, so they cut up bits of kinder surprise. It was great.


Birthday cake

In the evening, Kev and I planned to go to the movies and see Toy Story 3. There is only one english speaking cinema in Rome, and we have heard that it isn't very reliable. So I checked the website and made sure that I had the right day, date, time, etc. Everything was right so we went into the city. It was a balmy evening - just perfect. Except that the cinema decided to close for the Summer! It was open the day before, because we spoke with people who had been there. Isn't that madness? In Australia, all the big movies premiere in the Summer because that's when people are on holidays, and also because it's nice to go to an airconditioned cinema when it's hot outside. But not here.....nooooooooooo. They close instead.

So, we decided to go for a nice stroll, and found a shop which sold cheap dvds. We don't have a tv, because we don't want to be subjected to the rubbish that makes its way into our homes through the box. But, we watch dvds on the computer, so this was a chance to stock up. We are especially happy about finding the first season of The Mentalist, which we used to watch at home each Monday on 'family night'.

So, it was a good birthday, and I can say from experience that I find it very pleasant being old!